Gold in the sunlight
by Efcia
Summary: After engagement Arthur and Ariadne find their happiness. But in this business happiness is a short-lived thing. Will everything they built survive through dark times? Sequel to "This is a gift, it comes with a price", can be read as separate story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Clearly I'm unable to live without creating a story about Arthur/Ariadne:D This is a sequel to "This is a gift, it comes with a price", but (hopefully) it's understandable as a seperate story. As always reviews are much appreciated!**

The sound of door bell is sharp, somehow urgent and Ariadne sighs. Stepping from the shower tub isn't a tempting idea, as she's freezing cold, after a couple of hours in cold college building.

And she's not waiting for anybody.

Well, to be exact she is, but he won't be back until next Monday.

Ariadne is sure of that; Arthur is never late, but he is also never earlier, always just in time, exactly as he promised. Ariadne learned that during the last six month and it gives her the sensation of comfort.

Arthur doesn't broke his promises, never.

Of course she was scared to death when he said he got a job offer, in Berlin. They came back to Paris from the trip around the world, as Ariadne had to go back to her last year of studying and Arthur didn't even unpacked all his suitcases.

She was afraid and he knew it, sensing it in every her word, every gesture.

But she also trusted him and trusts with all her heart.

So she kissed him deeply on the airport and he smiled to her.

"I'll be back at 22th.", he said.

And he was.

Ariadne isn't sure how he's able to know in advance the date of coming back; making predictions in the Dream sharing business really isn't so easy. Yet, somehow Arthur manages to do so.

The bell is ringing again and Ariadne decides she has to open the door. She carefully wears the bathrobe and with loud sigh opens the door, ready to say firmly "No" in a case of travelling salesman.

But it's Eames.

He's leaning heavily on the doorframe, little pale and Ariadne's heart stops beating for a second, until she realizes Arthur wasn't supposed to work with Eames, not this time.

"Hello, love.", Eames greets her and with loud sigh unsticks himself from the doorframe. "Is Arthur home?"

"No, he's in Berlin.", Ariadne responses quickly, her eyes scrutinizing Eames.

"Berlin…", he repeats after absently and Ariadne feels a little panicked.

"What's wrong with Berlin?", she demands, ready to literally tear the response from Eames. He looks at her in slight surprise.

"Nothing, I suppose. It's Paris what bothers me more right now.", he responses and without asking steps into the room and sits on the couch.

"Eames?", Ariadne follows him. "What's wrong? Are you fine?"

"I could use some paramedical help.", Eames admits. "Can you stitch me?"

Ariadne looks at him with disbelief. "Me? It's plenty of doctors here, for god's sake!"

"Ariadne, I screwed up something and I really can't go to hospital like that, it's… a little too dangerous.", Eames closes his eyes and leans on the couch rest. "I wouldn't show here either, but you're the only person in Paris that won't sell me."

Ariadne stands a little longer, but the paleness on Eames's face finally forces her to take the first aid from the bathroom.

Eames removes his jacket and shirt, revealing a long and ugly gash on his chest. It's bleeding and Ariadne pauses.

Arthur taught her how to deal with that kind of wounds, but it's something completely different to practice on pieces of fabrics and to stitch a real person.

"Eames…", she says hesitantly. "Are you sure you want me to do it?"

Eames sighs and just nods his head. He hisses when needle pierces his skin and Ariadne shivers. She's not afraid of blood, never was, but she hates the idea of hurting her friend.

Eames's eyes are closed, his breath slightly hoarse and Ariadne feels how wave of anxiety washes over her.

"Eames, how big are the chances someone finds you here?", she asks quietly, trying to work both quickly and gently.

Eames's eyes snap open. "Small, of course, I wouldn't be here differently!", he exclaims in indignation, wincing at sudden pain.

Ariadne smiles. "Exactly as I thought. And you know how big are chances that you'll faint somewhere on the street, or airport? Because judging by myself it's about 75 percent."

"Ariadne, I can't stay. Beside, Arthur would kill me if I did.", Eames protests.

"Shh.", Ariadne silences him. "Shit!", she curses, feeling a sharp sting in her finger; it's the needle. "Hope you don't have anything nasty in your blood.", she murmurs and continues her work, until she finally makes the last knot and sighs heavily.

"What? Oh, no, no. even if I have you've already had it too, we're using the same PASIV after all.", Eames responses immediately.

"Done.", Ariadne announces a couple of minute and a lot of blood later and leans on the couch beside Eames. "It was the most exhausting thing I've ever done.", she adds, looking at her hands, wearing protective gloves, now covered with blood.

"We both need a little bit of cleaning.", Eames comments weakly and stays on the couch.

Ariadne absently brushes her finger on the pillow, too late realizing what she has done.

"Oh, no!", she exclaims, looking at the blood stain. "It's Arthur's favorite one!"

Her words finally tears Eames from the state of apathy, he raises himself from the couch rest, mischievous smile on his full lips. "Arthur has a favorite pillow? Oh, Ariadne, I'm really happy I went to you, this information is worth even the crooked stitches."

Ariadne can't help but starts laughing and Eames joins her, groaning with pain, but unable to stop himself.

Later Ariadne tries to force him to sleep on the bed, and surprisingly, she is successed. She, herself lays awake for a long time, her thoughts flying freely.

She's scared, she has to admit it; no matter how bravely she behaved, the sight of Eames's wound terrified her. It recalled her how dangerous the dream-sharing business can be.

_Could I do the same for Arthur?_

_Could I stay calm enough to help him?_

Ariadne curls and borrows her face into the pillow.

She hopes she won't have to check it.

* * *

Arthur doesn't particularly like Berlin. It's something about this city that doesn't allow him to feel comfortable here.

_Museumsinsel, _though, has its specific charm, with all this museums around, especially _Pergamonmuseum, _with its collection. Arthur brushes past a large group of Japanese tourists and sighs.

At least here, he's safe, no one would risk shooting in such crowd.

He felt guilty as always, while kissing Ariadne for good bye, a little like he betrayed her somehow; Ariadne strongly believes in his common sense, but Arthur knows how risky working in this field is.

But this work didn't seem any more dangerous than previous ones, like a typical corporation espionage, nothing more.

The problem is it is something more.

Arthur, the calm and collected Point Man, actually throw a glass, when he found out in what kind of shit he is.

A war between drug dealers.

And Arthur exactly in the middle of it, with no chance to escape, not really. Beside where could he go? To France?

Never, he cannot risk Ariadne's life.

So he tried one thing he was always good at: a double crossing. Today he's going to find out whatever he's successed.

He breathes deeply, his eyes scanning nearby. He's alerted, ready to react.

_I has to be fine._

He can't die, not when Ariadne's waiting for him. Not when he's already chosen wedding rings.

No that Ariadne really knows about it.

When suddenly the normal noise of city is silenced with the rumble of gun fire, Arthur ducks instinctively.

_Shit, shit._

It seems he's not successed after all.

Another bullet pierces the air, but this time Arthur doesn't manage.

The pain in his back is sharp, but short, as everything mercifully covers darkness, taking it away from him.

* * *

Ariadne doesn't believe in premonitions or special bonds linking you with the beloved person, but when she suddenly cuts her finger while making a late breakfast, her heart starts beat unevenly.

The feeling of anxiety is almost overwhelming and Ariadne grabs her cell phone, just to put it down again.

_He can be under right now, so he won't answer and I'll finish anxious for rest of the day._

Ariadne breathes heavily and puts her finger under the stream of cold water, feeling slightly ridiculous.

Arthur will laugh at her, when she tell about her behavior, it's certain.

But she takes her phone with her, when she goes to the bedroom, a plate with sandwiches in her hand.

"Hello.", she greets Eames, who's still laying on her bed. He smiles in answer, grins even and stretches his muscular hands.

"Hello, sweetheart. Does Arthur also get a delicious breakfast into bed, or it's just my charm that convinced you to act so?", he asks, mischievous twinkles in his grey eyes.

"Arthur gets things you can only dream of.", Ariadne chuckles in response and sit beside him. "How're you feeling? Need any painkillers?"

Eames's smile broadens. "Arthur's really a lucky one.", he announces, when Ariadne's phone vibrates, showing the name of Arthur.

"Speaking of.", she laughs, feeling the wave of relief.

"Hello, dear.", she says brightly, but instead of calm but tender "Hello, Ari" the silence greets her. Ariadne can hear a breathing, though.

"Arthur?", she asks, slightly hesitantly.

"Khem. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?", an unfamiliar voice asks her and Ariadne freezes.

"Nein!", she almost yells. "Where is the owner of this phone?"

"Accident, guns.", the woman on the other side of line clearly wants to help, but Ariadne can't pay attention to that, completely panicked.

"How… Is he alive?", she shouts, hearing the gasp coming from Eames.

"Entschuldigen Sie bitte?", the woman answers and Ariadne almost throws her phone on the wall, her breath rapid. The gentle touch of Eames's fingers startles her, but he simply takes the phone away from her and puts it to his ear.

His German is fluent, albeit little rough, and Ariadne waits with hold breath.

"He's alive now, but…", Eames voice falters, his grey eyes darker than usual. "She's a policeman, you number is signed as the ICE, so she called…"

Ariadne looks at him with wide eyes, her chest falling rapidly with shuddered breaths.

"What. Happened.", she manages to say, trying to stay calm.

"Shooting, Arthur has been shot in the back, he's in hospital now, most probably there's a surgery made.", Eames answers tersely and puts the phone on the bed. His fingers are slightly shaking, Ariadne notices in some kind of astonishment and finally raises from the bed.

"I need a plane ticket to Berlin, will you take care of it?", she asks and takes a travel bag from her wardrobe, her mind whirling. Later she'll have to separate her things from Arthur's, but now she just puts various kinds of clothes and cosmetics, her movement short and rapid.

"I found two free tickets, flight at 2 pm.", Eames announces, shutting down the laptop.

Ariadne absently nods her head, but then realizes something and frowns. "Two?"

"I won't leave you alone, sweetheart.", Eames responses simply and that's enough.

A flight from Paris to Berlin is a rather short one, but for Ariadne it feels more like an eternity, whole her muscles painfully tensed, fingers constantly tapping on the seat hand rest.

Eames is impressed, though; he still excellently remember the broken girl Ariadne was when Arthur has been shot in the Dream. Of course he ended in Limbo that time, but in real world the threat is even worse. Even though Ariadne seems much more collected, all emotions hidden under skin.

Only nervous movements of her fingers reveal how scared and panicked Ariadne really is.

Eames says the address of hospital Arthur is laying in to the cab driver, his skill of talking in German language at least in use. Ariadne stays silent, exactly like she has been during the flight.

Eames is prepared to a long arguing with doctors, as they're not Arthur's family, but it seems that hospital staff is too shocked to lemur.

"Arthur Carr, yes.", the surgeon says. "He lives through the surgery, now we have to wait for the wake up."

Ariadne digs her nails into Eames's arm. "You mean he's not waking up?", she asks, her voice slightly choked.

"He lost a lot of blood and the injury itself is rather serious, so it's not really alarming, not yet.", a doctor answers gently. "You can see him.", he adds.

He leads them into Intensive Care Unit, speaking some soothing words to Ariadne, which she doesn't really understand or pays attention to.

_Arthur survives the surgery._

_But he's not awake._

Ariadne clutches her fist, hoping it'll help her not to scream, the yell raising dangerously in her throat. She feels a delicate tap of Eames's hand on her back, when they stop in front of Arthur's bed.

He's laying, motionless and pale, connected to various kinds of machines, the sharp "beep" of one of them hurting Ariadne's ears.

His eyes are closed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Please, keep reviewing! They make me write despite the fact that exams are quickly coming and I should learn rather than writing.**** Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter!**

1 YEAR, 4 MONTHS AGO

The month Arthur and Ariadne had spent in Roma was extraordinary.

Not only because of fact they were newly- engaged and the shine of ring made Ariadne smile every time she looked at it. Not only because Arthur had twinkles of happiness in his dark eyes and infectious grin on his face.

It was the first time together when they weren't bothered by job of any kind. This time was entirely theirs and they enjoyed every second of it.

Even their first after-engagement argument.

This time Arthur didn't ran away or tried avoiding confrontation. He didn't scream, Ariadne was the one to yelling, but his voice was sharp and he was standing in front of her, his eyes shining with anger and that made Ariadne strangely happy.

It proved that Arthur is really with her, letting himself flow with emotions.

The night after that accident showed that he also wasn't afraid to lose his legendary control, not in front of her.

Not _with_ her.

Every previous sex with Arthur was amazing and left Ariadne dazzled and fulfilled. Every touch she got from Arthur was careful and calculated, even in the most surprising and you-could-think unplanned situation.

That night it was Arthur, who shuddered at her touch, it was Arthur, who screamed, it was Arthur, who left bruises on her hips.

And Ariadne loved it.

After Roma they travelled to States, to visit Cobb, as he invited them for Christmas. During the flight Ariadne for the first time felt a hint of jealousy. Of course she knew all along that Arthur catches women's eyes, she was also very well aware of his ability to talk with them in the way that makes them feel important.

But that time Ariadne was pretty sure he was flirting shamelessly with a flight attendant , right in front of her eyes. She stayed silent during eight-hour flight, shooting him murderous glares from time to time. He seemed unbothered by that until they got in the rented car.

"Ariadne?", he questioned, slightly hesitantly. "Something wrong?"

Ariadne grimaced. "Arthur, sweetheart, don't be so obvious when you're flirting with another woman, at least not when you're doing so, when I'm beside."

Arthur chuckled. "You're jealous.", he announced in admiration. "I can't remember the last time someone was jealous of me."

Despite his light tone Ariadne overheard something more, a happiness mixed with sadness? Ariadne wasn't sure, but her anger faltered.

"Try something like that once more and I won't be so nice.", she threaded, half-jokingly. Arthur smirked and leaned to her, stealing a kiss.

"Watch the road!", Ariadne snapped immediately, but couldn't stop the smile, which revealed her true emotions.

She was happy, simply happy to seat with the man she fell in love beside her, within a reach of her hand.

The door was opened by huge-eyed and sand-haired Phillipa, with James as her assistant. She shot slightly suspicious glare at Ariadne, before exclaiming happily at the sight of Arthur.

"Uncle Arthur!", she screamed, grinning and throw herself on him. He caught her instinctively and gave Ariadne meaningful gaze, saying "Check Cobb.".

Ariadne nodded and disappeared further into corridor, before children could carry their attention on her.

"Ariadne.", welcomed her Cobb's warm voice. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too.", she answered honestly and smiled.

She had never seen Cobb so calm and relaxed, with warm twinkles in his blue eyes instead of usual anxiety.

"You look..", she started but a muffled groan and jerked in the middle "Sh..!", coming from Arthur paused her. She and Cobb looked curiously toward him to find him bent in half and slightly uneven breath.

"James kicked him there!", Phillipa immediately reported, gesturing toward Arthur's crotch, which caused aloud blow of laugh from Ariadne.

"Wait, they'll torture you, too.", Arthur warned her, taking a deep breath and joined them.

"Hello, Cobb.", he said and shook hand with the ex-Extractor. "It's good to see you again."

"Where is professor Miles?", Ariadne inquired, looking around.

It felt strange to finally be here, in the house she saw twice before, every time in Cobb's mind.

Every time in the presence of deadly projection of Mal.

Ariadne shuddered and looked at gigantic tree, embellished with mixed type of trinkets, Christmas gifts already laying under it.

Definitely the house was be the same, but the atmosphere of it was entirely different.

"We have something to add to this mountain of presents.", Arthur smiled, took one of the bags and kneed beside the tree, with James and Phillipa as his companions.

"Which one is for me?", Phillipa demanded with characteristic for children self-confidence. "This?"

"One, this one is for aunt Ariadne.", Arthur explained with soft chuckle and short glance toward her.

"You're the best person that could happen to him.", Cobb commented quietly. "I've never seen him like that, really."

Ariadne smiled in answer. "I hope so.", she are replied simply. "But you didn't tell me where professor Miles is?"

"Oh, he went for some more shopping, it seems we forgot about a couple of things… Anyway, when the wedding day will be?"

"We both agreed it should take place after Ariadne's graduation.", Arthur, who joined them leaving kids looking hungrily at Christmas gifts, answered. "It'll spare us questions from Ariadne's colleagues."

Cobb frowned at this statement, taking a short glance at Ariadne, but she seemed to perfectly fine with it.

"I prepared a room for you, upstairs.", he said. "Come on, I know that flying from Paris to Los Angeles, especially in winter is exhausting."

"Yeah, it's minus 3 in Paris and the snow is falling, and here rain welcomed us. It's strange having Christmas in such temperature.", Ariadne replied.

As soon as they closed the door behind them, Arthur wrapped his arms around Ariadne's waist.

"What's wrong, Ari?", he murmured into her neck, his warm breath tickling the surface of her skin.

"Nothing, not really.", Ariadne leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's just this house, you know I saw it in Cobb's Dreams and now it feels so strange to be here."

Ariadne felt Arthur's grip around her loosened. "I don't know what you saw in Cobb's Dreams."

Ariadne turned so she could see his face. "Are you angry?"

"Ariadne, I'm not angry.", Arthur protested immediately and took step back.

"Yes, you are.", she replied, he eyes dangerously narrowed.

"Ariadne, I'm not angry.", Arthur repeated, shaking his head in irritation. "Why would I? it wasn't you decision, Cobb wanted to show you his fears, so he did it. It'd be unreasonable to be angry at you."

"Arthur, anger is not about being reasonable, or not.", Ariadne took a step, effectively invading Arthur's personal space. "Just tell me if you're angry at me.", she demanded. "I want you to be honest with me and that honesty applies also to emotions."

She saw something flickered in his dark eyes, just before he closed them. He leaned his forehead on hers and sighed.

"I was angry at you.", he admitted. "As soon, as I realized what happened. But mostly I was angry at Cobb, that he didn't tell me, that he choose you over me. The problem was that I knew, from the very beginning, that nobody can refuse you."

Ariadne chuckled and puffed at his nose, tickling him with her breath. "Mostly I wanted all of you to be safe. And Cobb's problems were a guarantee for troubles. But I'm happy to see him like that, to be here."

She felt Arthur's hands on her back, fingers slowly tracing the line of her spine. "Our first Christmas.", he said slowly and finally kissed her, his lips delicate and soft on hers.

Ariadne didn't want delicacy, not that time. She parted her lips, simultaneously shoving Arthur into the bed, feeling he submitted to her touch.

Well, he would ended on the bed if they'd be in the hotel room at Rome.

The problem was they were about 10 200 km away from Rome.

Arthur run into the wooden bed's frame with crack and landed on the bed with loud "Shit!". Ariadne, unable to stop herself, fell on him, hitting her knees on the frame and making Arthur gasp under her weight.

"Ari…", he groaned. "That hurt."

Ariadne started laughing. "You keep saying that I weigh as much as a feather."

"Nobody weighs so little, when falls unexpectedly on you.", Arthur replied, but put his arm strongly around her, immobilizing her in not-so-comfortable position.

Ariadne shifted. "Let me go."

"No, you're the reason I'll have bruised thighs, now it's your turn for a little bit of suffering.", Arthur answered firmly.

Ariadne chuckled in answer, so he changed their position, ending on the top of her.

"It's unfair!", Ariadne protested with laugh. "You're heavier than me!"

"And who said that life is fair?", Arthur responded rhetorically and kissed her nose.

"I love you.", Ariadne whispered when he pulled apart and he smiled in answer with this beautiful smile of his.

In Arthur's eyes she saw an expression of man, whose dream came true and that made her extremely happy, almost causing her to cry.

"You're not so terrible with children.", she said, deciding that she didn't want to ruin this moment with tears, better to light tease.

"Really?", Arthur raised his eyebrow. "Maybe all this gifts I had helped me a little. And I love you too, Ari.", he added. Ariadne felt her tears started to flow after all and she buried her face into his chest.

"You're the only person that give me tears of happiness.", she murmured.

Arthur laughed softly. "Hope we'll stay only with this kind of tears."

* * *

NOW

The constant sound of beating of Arthur's heart is filling Ariadne both with hope and anger. She observes charts on the device's screen, reads numbers.

The pulse.

The blood-pressure.

As far as Ariadne knows they're not perfect, but as good as you can expect from person so badly injured.

The only problem is that Arthur doesn't wake up.

It has been twenty hours since the surgery and he's still asleep, no signs that he'll open his soon.

Ariadne is sitting beside his bed, thanks to Eames, who convinced the doctor to let her for such thing. If she could she would spend the entire night with him, but she doesn't get the permission.

So she's been sitting here from the earliest possible hour, hoping and waiting, listening the steady pulse of Arthur's heart. Eames was here for a moment too, but then disappeared somewhere, Ariadne isn't sure where. Various nurses are entering the room, checking if everything is fine, tapping her back and sending Ariadne reassuring smiles, the leaves.

Ariadne stays, almost motionless, only sometimes she brushes the palm of his hand.

She wonders if Arthur is dreaming.

And if she appears in his dreams.

"Ariadne?", Eames's concerned tone tears Ariadne out of her dark thoughts. "You need to eat something, take some fresh air…", his voice falters, when he sees Ariadne turns back to him and fixes her gaze on Arthur.

Eames takes a few firm steps towards her and grabs her by arm, not really paying attention to be gentle.

"Ariadne. Ariadne.", he repeats more firmly. "Arthur made me promise that if anything happen to him, I'll take care of you. And right now you need to eat something and go outside. Right now."

Ariadne hesitates, something inside her screaming that she should be sitting still and waiting, but the common sense wins. She's hungry and thirsty, her limbs numb because of sitting on the uncomfortable chair.

"Fine.", she says, standing up.

They went outside the hospital, coffees in their hands and Ariadne exhales sharply.

" Arthur is in limbo now, right?", she asks, taking Eames aback. He was prepared for tears, not for this calm and straight question.

"Not exactly.", he answers a moment later and turns to face Ariadne.

She frowns. "What you mean: "not exactly."?"

"Listen Ariadne. If you go under, you won't wake him up, no kick can do that, no death.", Eames responses seriously.

Ariadne takes step back. "How can you know that?"

"Because there were researches made. Listen, it looked like an opportunity to save people from comas. But it's not. If someone's in comatose it means that something in his body is not working properly, that he needs this sleep to recover. So nobody will wake up before it's possible."

Ariadne closes her eyes, her hand clutches at coffee mug. "What if it won't be possible?"

"Then this person won't wake up. Ever.", Eames responses simply, wishing the truth to be different.

But he couldn't lie, not to Ariadne.

"What if I go under? Would Arthur recognize me?", Ariadne asks, hope clear in the voice, her huge eyes filled with tears.

Eames closes the distance between them and puts his arm around her slim waist.

"I wish, I could know.", he whispers softly and doesn't mind when Ariadne wets his shirt with her tears.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! As for this chapter I have an explanation, as I don't want anybody confused: parts with Arthur's dream are describing what Arthur is dreaming while being in coma. Hopefully it all makes sense...**

**R&R!**

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_Arthur groans, feeling the pleasure of __orgasm washing through his entire body. _

"_Ariadne.", he says softly and stops, partially bec__ause of the expression on woman under him, partially because of his own thought._

_Who is Ariadne?_

_The woman under him (Lisa, Arthur recalls) pushes him away with grimace of anger on her face._

"_Who is Ariadne?", she demands, her eyes flashing._

_Arthur looks at her with confusion. "I don't know.", he responses honestly._

"_You don't know.", Lisa repeats after him in disbelief. "You fucking don't a woman, whose name you scream when you have an orgasm?"_

_Arthur reaches his hand to touch her cheek, but she shoves it away. "Don't dare to touch me, you bastard.", she warns and grabs her things._

"_Lisa, I really don't know any Ariadne.", Arthur tries to resonate her__. "Besides, I wasn't screaming.", he add quieter, feeling slightly ridiculous. _

_He has no idea, who Ariadne __is and it confuses him._

_Why he said that name?_

_It feels like the answer is just on the tip of his tongue, when s sharp knock on the door snaps him out of reverie._

"_Arthur?", a woman's voice call. _

_Lisa turns to him, half-dressed, eyes flashing with fury. "It seems mysterious Ariadne is found.", she drawls and takes a few quick steps._

_Opening doors reveals huge-eyed, short-haired woman in early thirties, wearing a slightly surprised expression on her beautiful face._

_It's Mal._

_For a tiniest part of second Arthur is startled, like something isn't proper, like Mal shouldn't be here._

_She should be dead?_

_Arthur shakes his head in confusion._

_What's going on with him?_

"_I guess, I'll come later.", Mal announces, her wonder turning to amusement and closes the door before anyone in the room is able to say anything._

_Lisa turns to Arthur with question in her blue eyes, anger disappearing for a moment._

"_She's my coworker wife.", he says, anticipating her question._

_Lisa stands motionless for a moment, before putting on the rest of clothes. "Call me when you find out who Ariadne is.", she announces coldly and walks from the room._

_Arthur slumps on the bed gracelessly. _

_He feels confused, unsure where he is and what he's doing, a little bit like after huge drinking._

_Except Arthur never gets drunk._

_And there is this dull pain in his back, in the left shoulder blade to be exact._

_Arthur __knows he need to call Mal. She didn't seem upset or her behavior wasn't strange; Arthur used to her unexpected visits long time ago and her ability to find a place of his accommodation is unbelievable._

_He takes a deep breath, feeling the pain in his back increasing for a moment, a short and strong sting, and reaches for the phone._

"_Mal?", he asks._

"_I'm waiting in the lobby.", Mal answers immediately and disconnects. _

_It's so like her; it's also so like her to sit with lazy grace in the couch, looking gorgeous in a sweater and simple skirt. Arthur stops for the moment to study her; he always does that, whenever he gets the chance. And Mal always sense his gaze on herself and welcomes him warm smile._

"_You find quite a beauty.", she says, instead of greeting, mischievous twinkles in her eyes. "It's a shame I didn't have the chance to take a closer look at her… When she almost run through the lobby."__, she adds and kisses Arthur's cheek._

"_Hello, Mal.", Arthur greets her. "Always able to find me, no matter where I stay."_

"_Of course.", Mal laughs, her French accent caressing Arthur's ears. "And you, as always, picked up a fancy looking girl."_

"_I'm not interested in long-term relationships, you know that perfectly well.", Arthur replies. "Speaking of that kind of things… Where's __Cobb?"_

"_Oh, mon cheri, I'm alone. Shall we go for a walk? I have two news for you.", Mal takes his hand and leads him to the hotel's entrance. The chill air of New York in autumn welcomes them._

_The walk silent for a moment, enjoying the familiarity of each other presence. It's Mal, who breaks the silence._

"_Remember what I told you six years ago?", she asks and Arthur arches his eyebrows. _

"_Mal, I have an excellent memory, but even though I need a little more details.", he chuckles._

_Mal stops in the middle of pavement." I promised you something. It was in August." _

_Arthur's eyes widen in sudden realization. He takes a short glance at Mal's flat stomach as if expecting it to round within seconds. _

"_Do you really want me as the godfather of your first child?", he asks with disbelief. _

"_No one could be better.", Mal responses firmly. _

_Arthur gives her one of his rare and, because of that, really precious smiles. "And second news?"_

"_I've got a job offer.", Mal answers quickly, her words making Arthur alert. _

_He looks at her suspiciously. "And why it's you not Dom who informs me about it?"_

"_Because it's not normal job offer.", Mal explains slowly. "It's… extraction."_

_Arthur stares at her in shock. "Extraction?", he repeats. "Mal we are training people _against _extraction."_

"_But Arthur!", Mal grabs his hand, the familiar light of excitement in her huge eyes. "It's the chance to try something completely new! Imagine all the possibilities behind it!"_

_Arthur wants to say a short and firm "No", when something stops him._

_Performing a real extraction?_

_Oh, yes, it would be something._

* * *

NOW

There are people who can sit still and motionless through almost entire day, doing something only when they have to. Ariadne definitely isn't that kind of person.

Currently she's standing beside window' sill, tapping her fingers on it.

Through the glass she sees people, some of them are patients, other visitors or hospital workers. Various faces, various ages, various problems.

Yet, there's something that joins them, makes them blur and mix into an unimportant crowd of nameless people.

None of them can put himself under and sink into the world of Dreams.

None of them can see what's happening in the mind of person in coma.

Ariadne clutches her fist, feeling that nails ding into her skin, almost piercing it. There's a simple image in her mind.

A silver box, a metal suitcase, hidden in the wardrobe in her flat in Paris.

A spare Pasiv, "just in case", as Arthur said bringing it to her home one day.

It's the simplest version of this device, it wouldn't let you build a three-layers Dream. But it would be enough to join Arthur in his Dreams.

Ariadne hits the sill, feeling hopeless.

She can't go under, not here, not in Germany, where dream-sharing is strictly forbidden.

And she has some nasty feeling that Eames won't let her see Arthur's Dream.

Not that Ariadne really cares of that; no matter how wonderful friend Eames can be, he's still Eames.

Not Arthur.

Ariadne isn't patient, but she can wait if forced.

* * *

ONE YEAR, ONE MONTH AGO

"I can't believe it.", Ariadne announced with such force, that a couple of people around her and Arthur looked at her with curiosity. "I hate waiting!"

Their flight had been just announced as delayed.

Which means thirty more minutes at airport in Barcelona, when they had been spending the last two weeks, before they'd fly to Mombasa.

Their travel destination still amazes Ariadne; it was not that she was mistaken by almost constant teasing between her fiancé and Eames. She was very well aware of strength of bond between them both.

Still the idea of visiting Eames in the place, where he's living for more than three years now is a surprising one. Especially when it came from Arthur.

Ariadne decided that she can spend the time of waiting a little more usefully. She leaned her head on Arthur's shoulder, gaining a jealous look from one of women beside them, and brushed his hand, careful to show the rest of the world a ring on her ring finger.

"Arthur, what is the real reason of flying to Kenya?", she murmured and feels Arthur shifted lightly.

"What makes you think that visiting Eames it's not real reason?", he asked in answer, but Ariadne sensed the aura of desperation in his voice. He knew he'd not win that battle

"If I believed that it's the actual reason, I'd never agree for that.", she announced with innocent smile. Arthur caught the bite.

"Why?", he inquired with a slight frown.

"Well,", she drawled. "Eames is handsome, I have to admit that. And women really don't like sharing their men with another guys…"

Arthur sighed, but Ariadne knew that's how he tries to cover his chuckle. "You've most probably checked Kenya, haven't you?"

"Of course.", she admited without hesitation. "The Dream-sharing is legal there.", she added and raised her head from Arthur's shoulder.

"You're right.", Arthur nodded his head and Ariadne saw there's serious look in his dark eyes. "And you need a little bit of training."

When they finally reached the place of their destination greeted them really pissed off Eames.

"From all the planes, you have to chose the delayed one!", he exclaimed in the way of greeting and then took Ariadne in bear-hug. She sank into it, suddenly realizing that she missed him much more than she thought.

"It's good to see you.", she murmured quietly and felt a butterfly touch of Eames's lips on her forehead.

"It's even better to see you, sweetheart.", he replied, grinning and let her go, his arms stretched toward Arthur. The Point Man arched his eyebrow and averted Eames's embrace with his usual grace.

The way to Eames's house wasn't really long, but onerous one, especially because of the constant rain.

"It won't stop, right?", Ariadne reassured herself and Eames shook his head in amusement.

"It's a rainfall season, it definitely won't stop. But you didn't come here to sightseeing, did you?", he replied and Arthur nodded in agreement.

Ariadne came back to watching the outside, absorbing every exotic element that catches her eyes.

Eames's house also had this touch of exotic in its lines, but it was also surprisingly tasteful and clean. Its cold, thanks to air conditioning, interiors were more like Arthur's and Ariadne looked around curiously.

"Kitchen.", Eames gestured to right side. "Your room is upstairs, the room I use for Dreaming is on the left side. Make yourself comfortable, I need to do something.", he grinned like a Cheshire cat and disappeared behind the entrance door.

"Tired?", Arthur asked, when Ariadne took a closer look at photo standing on the chest of drawers.

"Not really.", she answered absently. "In fact I'd like to Dream.. You know who is she?", she added, showing him the photo. There was a woman on it, with long and shockingly red hair.

Arthur just shrugged. "Eames is rather reserved person. I've never seen her or heard about her."

Not long after, with hair still damp after a shower, Ariadne closed her eyes, the rush of sedative in her veins.

* * *

"_It's so cliché!", Ariadne exclaimed, looking around._

_They were in the rifle-range, which seemed to be taken from an action movie about police men. _

_Arthur laughed. "I didn't really pay attention to the architecture of this Dream. So.", he continued. "This is Beretta M9, a semi-automatic pistol used by US Military…"_

"_Wait.", Ariadne interrupted. "We came to Kenya to learn me how to use a gun?"_

_Arthur looked at her, his fingers absently brushing the barrel of the pistol. "Partially, yes. Dream-sharing is legal here, so it's easier. But the main reason is Eames' ability to forge."_

_Ariadne frowned. "I've never said I'll go back to business."_

_Arthur smiled, a little sadly. "And you promise me that you won't?"_

_Ariadne hesitated, taking a short glance on the room around her. _

_Not coming back? Never!_

_Even though the common sense advices something else._

"_I can't promise that.", she admitted. "But I thought that forgery is more about a gift, not the skills."_

_Arthur sat on the floor, gesturing Ariadne to do the same. She obeyed and leaned her back on the wall._

"_Mostly you're right.", Arthur said. "But think about forgers as actors. It's possible to learn a person without actor's talent to play. Of course he'd be like craftsman. The gift of forgery makes person an artist. Eames has a gift and I have to admit he's brilliant. And he's a good teacher too, he taught me a couple of things."_

"_Are you good at forgery?", Ariadne immediately asked, the picture of Arthur transforming to some gorgeous blonde in her mind._

"_Oh, he's surprisingly good.", a deep voice with familiar British accent answered. Eames came closer and sat beside them."I thought you went under to make some shooting, but anyway I'm happy to see you here."_

* * *

NOW

Arthur's state is stable, stable enough that it's possible to transport him to Paris, without risking too much.

Ariadne hesitates only for the tiniest second.

In Paris Arthur will be in a private clinic, all the money from various jobs allows for that.

And in such a place nobody will stop her from going under.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks beautifully for reviewing. Here goes next chapter (even though I really should learning instead of writting... But it's too much fan:)**

NOW

Every second of the journey to Paris is filled with tension. Ariadne wonders if she'll live through it, as even breathing seems to be difficult right now.

She avoids looking at Arthur, who's laying limply on the stretcher, not even aware of the fact he's in the helicopter. Her mind is filled with only one thought, a simple plan; go to the home, take the Pasiv, go to the hospital, everything before Eames will appear in Paris too.

She feels a curious looks at herself, when she leaves as soon as she's sure Arthur is fine. Her heart is beating rapidly, so loud that she's sure everybody in ___Métro__de ____Paris __can hear it._

_She rushes into the flat and jerks the wardrobe's door wide open._

_There it is._

_The silver suitcase, the promise of rescue for Arthur._

_The Pasiv._

_She grabs it and runs from the house, almost forgetting to close the door behind her. _

_Interiors of private clinic Arthur is laying in are creaming about huge amounts of money with its cold and expensive elegance. Ariadne doesn't pay any attention to it, as she almost runs through corridors. _

_It's nothing hard to arrange an hour of privacy in place like this, not for that price for a day._

_Ariadne lays the Pasiv on the nightstand beside Arthur's bed and quickly checks it, just to be sure. It feels strange to put the needle to his wrist; he was always the one that did that for her. _

_One push of the button on the device and Ariadne's eyes are closed._

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_This Dream is different, Ariadne __senses it as soon as she opens her eyes. The design of it it's not so precise and detailed; it feels like the lines of buildings are blurring, the slight but constant change hovering in the air._

_She looks around but Arthur is nowhere to seen. For a moment she's scared that projections of Arthur's mind will attack her, but none of them pays attention to her._

_The city around her it's a strange mix of New York, Los Angeles and Paris, so are projections as Ariadne hears differently accented English mingling with French. _

_She takes one more glance on the place around her._

_Every direction is right, isn't it?_

_She goes to the left._

* * *

_The scent of vanilla, sweet and pleasant caress Arthur's nostrils as soon as Mal appears beside him. He relaxes slightly at her sight, but the strange tension he's feeling for a couple of days now is still inside him._

_Tension that doesn't have anything with making plans for illegal job, behind Dom's back._

_The stubborn pain in Arthur's back doesn't help either._

"_Hi, how's she?", Arthur gestures at Mal's stomach and she freezes for a moment, frowning._

"_Why she?", she asks, slumping on the chair. "We don't know the gender of baby, you know that I like surprises."_

"_Oh.", Arthur is perplexed, he was sure that he knows not only baby's gender but also the name of her. Mal's happy voice telling him" "We call her Phillipa." is clear in his mind. _

_He shakes his head hoping that it helps in clearing his mind. "Anyway, did you tell Dom about that job?"_

_Mal sighs and adjusts napkins standing on the table. "You know Dom… He'd rather make me stay in the house and rest all day long. He behaves like I'm ill, not pregnant."_

"_Mal.", Arthur leans closer her, lowering his voice."It's illegal, you know that perfectly well."_

_Mal smiles mischievously. "Are you trying to tell me you don't want this job?" _

_Arthur slumps back, shaking his head._

_He can't tell it, such words would never escape his throat._

_It's not only the thrill and adrenaline of making something new and forbidden. It feels more like Arthur's destination. _

_Like he's done it before._

_As soon as he sat down and started looking for information, he knew what they need to have this job successed._

_It was strange, but pleasant, not like this pain in his body and the constant feeling of confusion as if there's something right on the top on his tongue._

"_Mal.", he starts hesitantly, "Do you know any woman called Ariadne?"_

_Mal looks at him surprised. "Like the one from Greek myth? No, I definitely don't. Why are you asking?"_

_Arthur sighs. He wishes he could know why he's asking, why this name is hunting him days and nights._

_Yet, no matter how disturbing it is, telling Mal about it feels strangely improper, so he just shrugs in answer._

"_Nothing important, just asking."_

_Mal seems unconvinced but she decides to drop the topic and once again focus on the extraction._

* * *

_It's quite scaring, Ariadne has to admit; the way the world around her seems so unstable, like it could collapse any minute, makes her shiver._

_It's hard to believe that everything surrounding her is created by Arthur. _

_She quickens her pace, looking around intently, ready to stop as soon as she catches the familiar sight._

_And then he is._

_He's sitting beside the table in restaurant, wearing his favorite sweater, sleeves rolled-up. Ariadne can't breath for a second, her eyes fixed on him and only on him._

_It's a moment before she notices a woman beside him._

_Mal._

_Ariadne gasps at this sudden realization. Surprisingly it gives her the courage to enter the restaurant._

_Luckily, there are free tables beside the one Arthur and Mal are sitting in._

_Ariadne goes to one of them, never taking her eyes from Arthur, which causes a suspicious expression on Mal's face. She leans to Arthur, clearly telling him about Ariadne's behavior._

_Ariadne freezes, knowing what happens next._

_Arthur turns back and his dark, painfully familiar eyes, meet her._

_Something flickers in theirs chocolate depth and Ariadne exhales deeply._

_And the darkness comes._

* * *

NOW

Ariadne wakes up, gasping for air, her mind whirling with question.

What happened?

That question is answered as soon as she opens her eyes, the concerned face of Eames right in the sight.

"You…", she starts, the fury choking her for a moment. "You woke me up! How dare you!"

She stands up rapidly, not paying attention to the IV in her arm. The needle slips from her skin and her wrist starts bleeding, but it doesn't matter.

"You fucking bastard!", she yells, feeling the stream of tears on her cheeks. She wants to punch him, to make him bleed, but Eames grips her hands hard.

"You can't go into someone's Dreams like that!", he shouts at her. "The most primitive, sometimes cruel urges can be found there! It can make you hate him, do you understand?"

Ariadne's breathing is rapid und uneven and suddenly she feels so weakly that she almost collapses on the floor. Eames catches her and helps her sit on the chair.

She hears him turning off the Pasiv and closes her eyes.

There was something in Arthur's eyes, but it wasn't what she expected.

He didn't recognize her.

That thought makes Ariadne want to curl in herself and stay like that forever. Uncontrolled sob escapes her throat.

"Ariadne?", Eames knees beside her and with sigh takes her hand, his finger brushing gently its palm. "What did you see?"

Ariadne exhales sharply. "He didn't recognize me.", she admits quietly and feels Eames's touch tightens for a moment, before he stands up.

"Guessed, it could be like that.", he says. "Ariadne, you can't use it like that, it can leads you to a prison."

Ariadne slowly nods her head, knowing that he's sure she'll use it as soon as he leaves Paris.

He's definitely right with that.

"He's dreaming about Mal.", she speaks, surprising herself and Eames takes a short glance at her.

"I've never met her.", he admits. "Do you think…", his voice falters but Ariadne knows what unspoken words are.

She spoke them a couple months ago.

* * *

NINE MONTHS AGO

"Did you love her?", Ariadne asked, not sure if she wants to know the answer.

They flown from Mombasa to Cuba yesterday. From the very beginning of the day Arthur was behaving strangely, his eyes filled with undefined feelings. Ariadne tried to distract him, but he was unresponsive, rejecting all her propositions, including sightseeing and sex.

After a long time of asking and inquiring Arthur finally had admitted that Mal's death anniversary.

He was standing beside window sill, leaned on it and his voice was so quiet that Ariadne almost missed he said something. She stood up from the huge bed, but paused in the middle of the room, a sudden realization in her mind.

That's when she asked.

"Love?", Arthur repeated, sounding unsure. "I don't know… I guess the answer is yes."

Ariadne exhaled sharply, which caused him to turned over.

"Not romantically.", he amended, seeing the expression in her face. "We first met when she was eleven and I was six. We'd been neighborhood for a long time."

"Neighborhood?", Ariadne inquired, surprised.

"I'm half French, I spent my childhood in Dijon.", he explained, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. It hurt Ariadne, who came closer to him and looked into his dark eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?", she demanded. "Why are you still so secretive about yourself?"

"Secretive? Ariadne is just a name of place I spent childhood, is that really that important?", Arthur replied, clearly irritated.

Ariadne shook her head. "I'm not talking about place's names! I'm talking about things that define you as a person you are!"

The silence that felt between them was heavy. Finally Arthur reached his hand and touched her shoulder, a gently brush of fingers. "Ari, tell me what you saw in Cobb's Dreams, please."

Ariadne took a deep breath. She knew that her words wouldn't sooth Arthur, rather inversely. Yet, refusing his request seemed strangely improper.

She told him everything, from the rap built from memories, to the inception. Arthur was silent all the time, while she was talking and when she finished he simply went out from the room, leaving her alone.

He came back three hours later.

"Ari?", he asked, standing in the doorframe and Ariadne turned to him with a small smile.

She couldn't be angry at him.

He laid with his head on her lap, her fingers playing with his soft, un-gelled hairs.

"I had spent with Mal all this years since our first meeting, to the day I left to States. But even this separation wasn't really long. She met Dominick Cobb, fell in love with him and moved to Los Angeles with him. The job offer I got from her and Cobb was obvious. We were a perfect trio, the best in anti-extraction field. But Mal became more and more distant, she was slowly sinking in Dreams and Dom followed her."

Arthur paused, taking a long a lightly shudder breath. Ariadne gently stroked his head, her fingers entwining with locks of hair.

"When Mal jumped and Dom run away I had no idea what to do.", he admitted a couple of minutes later. "It was like somebody tore out a part of me. As soon as Cobb got in touch with me I was ready to throw everything away and leave Los Angeles. And then Mal shown up in one of Dreams."

Ariadne traced a line along his cheek and jaw. "You don't have to say that.", she whispered softly.

Arthur shifted his position, snuggling even closer to her. She felt his warm breath on her stomach, through the layer of her shirt.

"First it was a shock.", he continued quietly. "She looked exactly like Mal, but her behavior was so different… Then I learned to treat her like… I don't know, a kind of obstacle in our work, emotionlessly. She wasn't Mal, Mal would never jeopardize our job or hurt me, not intentionally. Sometimes I wanted to ask Dom why is he violating the memory of her like that. But I've never asked."

Ariadne leaned to him and kissed him, softly, tenderly and maybe, maybe his cheeks were wet.

* * *

NOW

Eames doesn't make her promise that she won't go under. He knows it's pointless, that Ariadne won't give up, not matter how long he'll be explaining her why she shouldn't use the Pasiv.

He also is very well aware that he need to disappear from Paris soon, it's not safe to be here for such long time. Eames sighs inwardly, his eyes fixed on Ariadne, who's sketching something for her studies, her gaze continually landing on Arthur.

"Ariadne.", he calls softly and she looks at him with a hint of interest. "We should call Cobb."

Ariadne seems to freeze at this words, her eyes going to Arthur once again.

It's a constant nowadays: Ariadne's eyes fixed on Arthur, the expression of hope in them.

"Eames, I can't call him.", she replies at last. "He'll want to fly to Paris and leave his children once again."

Something inside Eames is screaming that sometimes even kids aren't the most important thing in the world.

But he stays silent.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: It's a chapter I wrote between learning personality psychology and psychopathology, but hopefully it's not bad. Please, review?:D**

SEVEN MONTHS AGO

Ariadne was in a couple of relationships before. They didn't last long, collapsing with first bigger argument, when Ariadne's fierceness and passion became too much for her current boyfriend. She almost used to this temporality and constant of Arthur's being around her was a little scaring.

Not that she didn't enjoy it; she loved the feeling of waking up in the morning with accompaniment of his soft breath. She loved the way he looked at her, his dark eyes lighten with unspoken feelings.

She even loved arguing with him, the fact the she was able to force him to yell at her filling her with some sort of twisted pleasure.

Still, the vision of living together in one flat was somewhat scaring. What was more Ariadne really like her tiny flat and the idea of moving from it before graduation made her feel uncomfortable.

Arthur, of course, sensed her uneasiness. Another thing about him that she loved.

He caught her when she was staring at the engagement ring, playing idly with it.

"Having doubts?", he told down, his tone light, but Ariadne saw the anxiety in his eyes. She kissed him in answer.

"Never.", she murmured into his lips. "But I want to stay in my flat.", she added a couple of seconds later, when he pulled apart from her.

"In your flat?", Arthur repeated and then flashed a smile. "Fine, but we need to buy a double bed."

In that very moment Ariadne realized she couldn't fall in love in someone better than him.

* * *

NOW

Eames knows that escape from Paris is a matter of time for him. Every time he goes to the hospital he checks if there's no tails, no suspiciously looking people. Until today he was lucky, nobody paid any interest in him. Yet, his good luck doesn't survive more than week: this morning Eames discovered a man, who clearly dogging him. Of course, it wouldn't be too hard to lose him, but Eames doesn't want to risk.

Ariadne has enough on her head right now.

He calls her from a grocery, explaining things and hears that Ariadne is worried and relieved in the same time. For a moment he wants to go to the hospital and stops Ariadne from going under, but he needs to stifle this urge.

He exits the shop, with the expression of someone with no idea of being followed.

After Eames's call Ariadne has to calm down her rushing heart. She is afraid that Eames gets hurt, that's for sure. But her uneasiness comes from the realization that she's free to Dream.

Dream with Arthur.

It takes a short amount of time to get the Pasiv ready to use; after last time she left it in Arthur's room in the clinic. She carefully thrusts the needle to Arthur's wrist and then to herself, takes a deep breath and pushes the button.

The darkness swallows her eagerly.

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_This time Ariadne doesn't waste the time for looking around. Something inside her__, maybe love?, orders her to go right and then turn to the park, slightly resembling __Parc des Buttes Chaumont, where she and Arthur spent a lot of time walking. She spots him without problems, the familiar beige shirt, Ariadne bought him herself, covering his body. Her engagement ring lands in the pocket of her trousers. Then Ariadne quickens her pace and ,while passing by Arthur, uses one of the oldest tricks; she drops her bag on the ground._

_Arthur reacts immediately, exactly as she expected, and grabs it before she can even react._

"_Here you are.", he says with a smile that almost breaks Ariadne's heart._

_He has no right to smile like that to strange girls in parks. He's engaged for god's sake!_

_Ariadne catches herself on this though, feeling ridiculous and smiles to Arthur._

"_Thank you.", she says softly, realizing that she has no idea how she should behave to gain his attention. Should she be flirtatious? Or rather cold and distant? _

_Her sketchbook saves her, as it fells from her bag, landing wide open on the ground. Arthur's attention is immediately focused on it._

"_Are you drawing?", he asks, taking a closer look and tenses visibly. Ariadne's gaze follows his eyes and she freezes._

_The drawing her sketchbook is open on is a maze. Filled with paradoxes. _

_Ariadne even knows when she created it. It was a rainy day, two months ago. She was drawing in the kitchen with Arthur hovering over her arms and throwing ideas and examples of a paradoxical architecture._

"_A maze?", Arthur regains his usual composure. "And the paradoxical architecture?"_

"_My hobby.", Ariadne replies with dignity, trying to cover her nervousness with it. "Is that strange?"_

"_No. No.", Arthur's reaction is instant. "That's great."_

_His eyes lays on her and he silences. For a moment Ariadne is sure that he'll ask if they know each other, but Arthur shakes his head and the moment passes._

"_Shall we go for a coffee?", he says instead of that and Ariadne doesn't hesitate. It's her chance, after all._

"_With pleasure.", she responses and lets him take her hand. He leads her from the park to the nearest café, very sure of himself. It makes her mind whirling with thoughts. _

_Did he __pick up like that many women?_

_Did he ask them for coffee?_

_Did he sleep with them?_

_Ariadne never wondered about it, deciding that the past is past, it's something finished and done._

_Yet now, when he invites her so surely, without any doubts, Ariadne can't help but think about it._

_He didn't even know my name, strikes her suddenly. __Nor she should know his, anyway. _

_They reach a tiny and charming looking Italian café and Ariadne tenses. It's so much like the one Arthur asked her for marrying him. He senses her hesitation and, mistaking the reason of it, stretches his hand__._

"_My names is Arthur, by the way.", he says gently. Ariadne shakes it instinctively. _

"_I'm Ariadne.", she responses and with surprise observes a slight shock on Arthur's face. _

"_Ariadne?", he repeats after her in disbelief and her heart start bumping so loudly that she's afraid he'll hear it.__ "Beautiful and rare name.", he states and Ariadne's hopes are shattered within seconds._

_They sat beside the table, order drinks__; from experience Ariadne knows that it's the most awkward moment during such meetings, but it seems that Arthur doesn't have any problems._

"_Are you a student?", he asks casually, leaning back on the chair, a half-smile on his lips and Ariadne once again catches herself on realization that he's just too handsome._

"_Yes, I'm studying architecture.", she manages to answer__ and Arthur frowns._

"_Architecture?", he repeats. "Here?"_

"_Um.", Ariadne pauses. Honestly, she doesn't know where Arthur thinks they are right now, as the city around them resembles everything and nothing in the same time. "In Paris.", she finishes eventually, hoping it won't sound too dumb in the case they are supposed to be in Paris._

"_Paris… Isn't it a middle of semester right now?", Arthur inquires in answer. "New York isn't too close to Paris, especially when you have lectures the next day…"_

_Ariadne inwardly sighs in relief. So they're in New York. "In fact I took a year off, I needed a break before I finish studying and graduate.". Ariadne is astonished with the ease she's laying to Arthur._

_Their conversation flows freely, without awkward pauses__ and Arthur is so charming that Ariadne doesn't notice when her hand lands in his, his long fingers brushing her palm in oh so familiar way._

_It's both wonderful, as her body almost ached for Arthur's touch, and scaring, as she__'s just a girl he met three hours ago._

_He shouldn'__t be so naturally with her!_

_Ariadne stifles the urge to simultaneously yell at him, show him the engagement ring and make love to him right __now and here._

"_Ariadne?", his voice hacks through the mist of her thoughts. _

"_Yes?", she looks at him and once again the weirdness of that situation hits her._

"_I was asking if I could get your phone number.", Arthur repeats, his dark eyes fixed on hers._

"_Oh.", Ariadne says, suddenly very well aware that that's one of the steps they never did during building their relationship. Along with many others. "Sure.", she replies finally and scribbles it on the piece of paper torn from her sketchbook._

"_I need to go now.", Ariadne adds, knowing that time of her Dream is coming to an end. Arthur stands up, of course, and for a moment she's sure he'll kiss her. After all he just shakes her hand with that charming half-smile of his._

"_I'll call you.", he promises and Ariadne knows he'll do it._

_Her heart is bumping when she leaves the café. _

* * *

NOW

Ariadne's eyes snap open and her gaze instantly focuses on Arthur.

Nothing changed, he's laying motionlessly, only the movements of his chest indicate that he's still alive. Ariadne stands up slowly and takes out the needle from his wrist, then kisses gently the mark that left on the skin.

She feels dizzy and confused, not sure how she should think about Arthur's behavior in Dream.

Of course she's hurt that he's not dreaming about her, but, then, his love toward her is true, Ariadne doesn't have any doubts about it.

Still Ariadne wants him to remember her so badly that it's painful.

She takes a deep breath, try to regain composure.

_I'll do it. I'll make him recall me._

With that thought Ariadne closes the Pasiv, with a little too much force.

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_Arthur stays in the café, not able to understand his feelings, as they are whirling with terrifying speed. _

_He has just met a woman named Ariadne. _

_Oh, God…_

_Arthur never felt so confused, scared e__ven, after a meeting with woman; she didn't stun him with her beauty, or even intelligence. The reason of Arthur's strange feeling lays somewhere else._

_The problem is he has no idea where._

_There something in Ariadne that makes him feel both unbelievably comfortable and anxious. He sighs, pulling out the phone from trouser's pocket. No matter how Ariadne makes him feel, he has an idea._

"_Mal? I'm coming to you.", he says and hears Mal chuckles._

"_Arthur, you don't have to announce yourself, you know that.", she replies and finishes the conversation._

_Arthur can't help but smile. He's happy Mal is in New York, even though he wonders how long it'll be until Dom lose his patience and come for his wife. He has also a slight remorse, as they keep the extraction in secret. The problem is they can't tell about it Dom, because he won't agree to take a part in something illegal. _

_Arthur sighs inwardly quickening the pace and soon he enters the hotel Mal is living in. She waits for him in the lobby._

"_I want to go for a walk.", she announces and Arthur nods his head._

"_You seems somehow moved.", Mal starts the conversation, when they left the hotel. "What happened?"_

"_Mal, I found an architect for our job.", he replies immediately._

_Mal's smile widens a little. "That's great! Is it someone from the list we've made?"_

"_No.", Arthur denies. "And I don't know if she even agrees, but I'm certain she'd be perfect."_

"_She.", Mal repeats, a joyful expression falters from her face. "You never mixed the job with temporary romances."_

"_Mal, she is not my lover.", he protests fervently. "And I saw the mazes she drew, they are extraordinary." _

"_And that's why you are so enthusiastic about her, right?", she interrupts him with a hint of irritation._

"_I..", Arthur stammers."Her name is Ariadne."_

_Mal looks at him with lack of understanding, but then something flickers in her eyes. "It's an interesting coincidence, I have to admit that."_

"_It's more than just a name, Mal.", Arthur shakes his head. "I spent with something like three hours and it felt like I've known her much longer."_

_The charming smile is back on Mal's lips. "I had the same thing with Dom. It was __coup de foudre__."_

_Arthur rubs his temple. „Mal, I'm not talking about falling in love, or having many things in common. It was something else; I knew how her smile looks life before she smiled. I was sure what she'd take to drink, I knew all this little details that come from a long friendship. Or even more than friendship."_

"_What you mean by that?", Mal's forehead is frowned and her gaze intense._

"_I thought that I know how her lips taste.", Arthur answers slowly. "And how feels her body, when she sleeps beside me__….", he glances at Mal, the expression of confusion clear in his eyes. "It's scaring.", he admits. "But, in the same time, I feel incredibly good with her. I could trust her with my life."_

_Mal looks at him for a long time, silent. She has never seen him like that, his strange confession makes her anxious._

"_Just arrange a meeting with her.", she decides eventually._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: First of all thanks for reading/reviewing et cetera. Second thing: it's next to last chapter. Read and (hopefully) enjoy!**

SIX MONTHS AGO

They were coming back to France. Ariadne shifted her position on the plane seat and sighed, causing a curious look from Arthur.

"Unpleasant vision of coming back to school?", he teased lightly, with one eyebrow arched, but quickly his smile faltered. "Ari, I there something…", he started talking, when Ariadne suddenly grabbed his hand in strong grasp.

"I know, Eames called me.", she says hurriedly. "Arthur, I can't say I'm happy, but I know it's impossible to resist Dreams.", her smile is sad, when she leans closer to him. "Just promise you come back to me."

"I promise.", Arthur answers seriously, looking into her eyes.

They almost didn't speak until they reached Ariadne's tiny flat.

She opened the door with a sigh of relief, hearing Arthur's soft chuckle.

"Tired?", he asked and pulled her into his embrace. Ariadne sunk into it and breathed deeply, smelling his scent she learned to recognize and love.

"A little.", she admitted and cuddled to him a tighter. They stood like that for a long time, when Arthur finally shifted his position.

"I can call it over.", he murmured into Ariadne's ear and for a insane moment she wanted to scream a loud "Yes!", but she managed to stifled the urge. She took a step back from him.

"I trust you.", she simply said, looking intently into his dark eyes.

* * *

NOW

Six months ago Ariadne was sure Arthur'd not leave her, not voluntary nor involuntary. She trusted with all her heart that he'd go back for every possible job.

Now she brushes her finger along Arthur's cheek. He's thinner than he was, no matter how wonderful the care is and Ariadne knows she needs to hurry.

The prickle of needle in her wrist doesn't bother her at all; it's something you used to, when you Dream.

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_She doesn't pay attention to the blurriness and instability of the city around her; there's only one thing, which is important right now and it's a meeting with Arthur. _

_They are appointment in a hotel, which makes Ariadne wonder what Arthur will think about her. A second meeting and she agrees to meet him in a hotel room?_

_Nor that her reputation or less of it it's important here. _

_Arthur is waiting for her in the hotel lobby, his hair are slightly disheveled, sleeves of his shirt rolled-up. He hurries to her as soon as she appears at doors._

"_Hello.", he says with smile. "Hope you don't have anything against such place of meeting?"_

_Ariadne quickly shakes her head, so Arthur leads her to the lift. He presses the button with number five on it._

"_Ariadne.", he starts hesitantly. "I really wanted to see you again, but I also wanted to give you a job offer."_

_Ariadne frowns, trying to looks curious and maybe a little offended, instead of scared. "A job offer?", she repeats weakly, wondering if what she should do._

_Would be able to play an innocent child that has never seen or heard about Dream technology?_

_Doubtful. Maybe if she doesn't have to pretend that she doesn't know Arthur…_

_The lift stops on their destination floor, which tears Ariadne out of her reverie. _

_Arthur lives in room 491._

_Somehow Ariadne stays calm, although she can hear the bumping of heart in ears._

_It can be a coincidence, but it would be a really strange one…_

_She manages not to flinch, when Mal greets her. Surprisingly it's not that hard, as she's different than Cobb's projections of her; it has nothing to do with appearance, more the whole atmosphere of person._

_Mal smiles, her huge eyes lighten and Ariadne starts to understand why it was so hard to let her go._

"_Arthur told you about job offer, didn't he?", Mal reassures herself and Ariadne nods her head._

"_Although I'm not sure what I could possibly do…", Ariadne's voice falters, when she waits for an answer._

"_We'd like you to design something for us.", Arthur responds._

_Ariadne looks at him for a moment, her forehead frowned. "I'm not licensed archi__t_ect_, so you can't talk about reality, right?"_

_Mal and Arthur shares astonished glares. _

"_You 're working as an architect of Dreams?", Mal asks, stunned._

_Ariadne shrugs. "I worked once, actually, but it was a big job. You can add a couple of training sessions."_

"_Big job?", Arthur repeats. "So you worked in extraction field, right?"_

"_Yes.", Ariadne admits calmly, while her heart is screaming in pain._

_You kissed me for the first time during it! How can you not remember?_

"_It was an inception.", she adds, a risky step, but it turns to be wise one, as Arthur's gaze becomes even more sharp._

"_Inception.", he repeats slowly, simultaneously with Mal, who says: "It's impossible!"_

_To Ariadne's surprise it's Arthur who disagrees with Mal._

"_It's tough but possible.", he says firmly, causing an irritated sigh from her._

"_Arthur, if it's another thing you just know.."_

_He shots her an angry look and Ariadne decides to __interrupt, loudly clearing her throat._

_They immediately calm down__, focusing on Ariadne once more._

"_Shall we go under?", Mal suggests. "You show us what you can build without previous designing and we'll spare time."_

_Ariadne takes a quick glance on the wall watch, checking if she has time; luckily there's still some time until there'll be a bright zero on the Pasiv' display._

"_Sure.", she agrees. It's Arthur, who hooks her to the Pasiv and the familiarity of this gesture almost makes Ariadne cry._

_This time it's not a modern city or a mountains landscape that surrounds them; Ariadne decides to use the peaceful, rural place, where she had training with Arthur and Eames. _

_Mal looks around, wide-eyed__, but Ariadne pays attention only to Arthur, who is smiling to her, a true admiration in his eyes._

_And nothing else._

_Ariadne clutches her fists tightly. It doesn't matter -she'll make him recall, she'll pick up all the pieces. Right now she need to focus on the task in her hand._

"_Who our subject is?", she asks._

"_Phanny Charpentier.", Arthur answers immediately. "And, yes, she's French.", he adds, knowing in advance the question Ariadne wants to ask. Yet another oh so familiar thing__, that simultaneously makes Ariadne want to cry and laugh with happiness. _

"_So,", Arthur continues smoothly. "She's working in a huge electronics company. We are hired by her boss, as he suspects her __to spying for his competitor."_

_Ariadne frowns. "He can't check it any other way?"_

_Arthur shrugs, leaning on the tree trunk. Mal is walking not far away from them, clearly checking the design of the Dream. "He tried a couple of time, with no results.", he explains. "But he's sure secrets are stolen, so there we go."_

_He pauses and closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the warm touch of sun on his face._

_Ariadne hesitates. He'd never do such thing if he doesn't trust her and Arthur never trusts people so fast and easy._

_She wishes she could know where this trust is coming from. Is Arthur sensing they have so many in common, or is he changed because of the Dream world around them?_

_Ariadne takes a step closer, but Arthur doesn't open his eyes, so she relaxes beside him and breathes deeply the fresh, warm air._

"_It's beautiful.", the soft whisper __of his startles her a little, as it completely unexpected, but she smiles nevertheless. _

_For a moment she can believe that everything is fine._

* * *

NOW

Waking up isn't pleasant and Ariadne lays still for a little longer. She doesn't want to face the world in which Arthur is laying limply on the hospital bed with hole in his body.

And there is one more problem: she needs much more time spent in Dream, without all this breaks, which means much more time of being hooked to the Pasiv.

Nobody in the clinic will let her close the door of one of their patients room for more than an hour.

Ariadne hides the Pasiv in its usual place, takes a look on Arthur; he's still and pale, every day taking away a bit of him, and leaves the room in quick pace.

"Miss Ariadne.", doctor Gordon welcomes her with a professional smile, which doesn't reach his eyes. "What brings you here?"

"I want to take Arthur back to home.", Ariadne says hurriedly, like if the quick tempo could be more convincing.

Gordon raises his eyebrow. "Could I ask why?"

"I'm studying.", Ariadne starts slowly, cursing at herself that she didn't make up anything before she came here. "It's a last year so I don't have many classes, I'm mostly working at designs at home, but I still have many things to do and it's hard to put it together with visiting Arthur…", her voice falters when she sees the doctor wants to say something.

"Miss Ariadne.", he starts "It can sounds cruelly but, in fact, there's no need for every day visits."

Ariadne stiffens. "I won't leave him alone."

"Taking Arthur home would be expensive.", Gordon warns her.

"I know.", Ariadne responses shortly. "Money isn't the subject of matter."

Truly, it isn't. Ariadne isn't sure how rich Arthur exactly is, as she never dared to ask him about it, but content of her account is more than enough to cover all the expenses.

It takes more than a week to prepare her flat for Arthur's coming back. Their bedroom resembles more a hospital room than anything else right now and Ariadne had to get rid of many things just to make a place for medical equipment, but she doesn't regret anything. She can't run between the reality and the Dream world, is too exhausting.

And a hurt look in Arthur's eyes, whenever she tells she need to go, becomes more and more unbearable.

She takes a deep breath, after putting the needle in her and Arthur's wrists.

Six hours in reality.

Seventy two hours in Dream.

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

"_Ariadne, you're late!", Mal shakes her head in disapprovement, but she's smiling. Ariadne exhales deeply to steady her uneven breath; she has been running all the way to the rented flat, when they have their work place._

"_I'm sorry.", she apologies. "Hello, Arthur.", she adds, noticing Arthur, who stands with a coffee mug in his hand, frowning slightly and checking something in the neat pile of documents on his desk._

_He raises his eyes at her greet. "Guess, the meeting was a successful one." There is almost unnoticeable hard edge in his voice and Ariadne is surprised for a moment._

_And then she realizes; Arthur thinks that the reason of her hurry escape the previous day was a date. It takes no more than a second to decide._

"_In fact it was a total disaster.", Ariadne shrugs. Even though Arthur doesn't respond to that she can see how his eyes soften._

_They don't have much to do; the extraction is taking place tomorrow and everything is signed, sealed and delivered, so nobody protests when Mal announces that "pregnant woman needs some now clothes" and disappears._

_There is a moment of awkward silence after Mal's left. Arthur seems to avoid Ariadne's gaze, while he sits behind his desk, tapping nervously on the top of it._

"_Arthur?", Ariadne questions. "Maybe we should go somewhere too?"_

_Her words tear him out of his reverie. He takes a few quick steps and suddenly he's just a couple of centimeters away from her, his dark eyes focused entirely on Ariadne's face._

"_Ariadne.", he starts, hesitantly. "Every time I see you, I feel like I've known you much longer than I do."_

_Ariadne holds her breath, when Arthur gently places his arm around her and then she's kissing him, fiercely, without unnecessary hesitations or doubts. _

_He responses with the same passion, his hand on her back pulling her tighter to him, so their bodies are __pressed together, not a centimeter away._

"_Ari…", Arthur gasps into her mouth and Ariadne feels a shiver going down through her spine. It's only when they pull apart her hope falters._

_Life it's not a fairy-tale, she realizes. It takes more than a true love kiss to wake up somebody from coma._

_She sees love in his eyes, the softness in his usual sharp gaze, which is so well-known for her. Yes, he loves her, but he still doesn't know why._

"_Ari…", he says once again; the expression of confusion is clearly visible on his face. Ariadne silences him putting a finger on his mouth._

"_Shh.", she murmurs soothingly."It's fine, it's ok.__ It's just a minute before perfection."_

_When he uncovers her neck from the bright red scarf and kisses it, firstly gently but then with more and more fierce Ariadne can only moan with pleasure._


	7. Chapter 7

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_The possibility of falling asleep in Dream always confused __Ariadne; it shouldn't be possible, but then, it is._

_She __slowly comes back to consciousness, feeling the warmth of the body beside her and listening to a soft breath she missed so much._

_It feels so pleasant to wake up with Arthur in her side, even though it happens in Dream. Ariadne shifts her position, so she could face him; he's still asleep, his long eyelashes throw a shadows on cheeks. There's an imperceptible expression of happiness on his face, which makes Ariadne hold her breath._

_She doesn't want to wake him up and shatter this perfect illusion of happiness__ with the truth._

_The truth that the mission is still unfinished and Arthur doesn't know he's dreaming._

_Arthur's eyes snap open and he looks for a moment at her._

"_It feels like we have woken up like that many times before", Ariadne whispers and observes how confusion flickers in his dark eyes and disappear within seconds._

_The touch of his fingers is gentle, Ariadne lets herself sink into the sensation of it before they stand up and start a new day._

_A day of the job._

_Everything goes according to the plan. Mal is waiting for them in the agreed place and smiles widely at their sight._

_She knows, Ariadne catches herself at thinking. It scares her a little; she shouldn't mistake Arthur's projections with a living people, it's dangerous._

_But there's no time for thinking about such things, as their mark is already going to the place__ where the job will be done. It's an isolated house on the outskirts of city; the mark is luckily planning to buy a new house, which really comes in hand. Mal, with all her self-confidence is playing a role of estate agent. _

_Mal waves goodbye and heads to the house, as she's supposed to wait for the client.__ Ariadne and Arthur will be waiting in the car for her sign._

_There is silence between them, a little awkward but not unpleasant; Ariadne decides to lean her head on Arthur's shoulder, as she did so many times before__. He accepts her gesture without hesitance, placing a tender kiss on the top of her head._

_He's tensed, Ariadne can sense it easily, but she's not sure if the reason of it is a job, or rather all things that happened__ between him and her the previous day and last night._

"_Arthur?", she murmurs, tickling his neck with her warm__ breath. "Did you think why…"_

_Arthur's phone vibrates, stopping her in the middle of sentence._

"_They're upstairs.", Arthur announces shortly. "Time to go."_

_He leaves the car and Ariadne follows him, biting her upper lip. She knows that a good moment had passed unused; she didn't manage to question the reality around them and it makes her angry at herself._

_They can't stay here forever; nor Arthur, whose physical health is getting worse with every hour in coma, nor she would be able to live in the Dream._

"_Arthur.", she starts once again, when suddenly all hell br__eaks loose._

* * *

THREE MONTHS AGO

A huge yawn escaped Ariadne's throat. She shifted her position on the chair, making it more comfortable and once again picked up her phone and checked the time.

3:00 am.

Ariadne sighed, absently cleaning her fingerprints from the phone's display. Arthur had called her from the airport with information that the plain is delayed and "Please, Ari, be reasonable and don't wait for me. You have classes tomorrow."

But it was a particularly complicated job, Arthur had been gone for almost a month now and the longing for he became almost unbearable.

It was still an hour before the plane would land on _Aéroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle _and at least twenty five minutes until Arthur finally open the door.

Much more than Ariadne could idly wait.

It took just a couple of minutes to wear a pair of jeans and sweater, grabbed keys and coat and run down the stairs to the car.

"_I love you and all I want you to do is just hold me__"_, she sung with the accompaniment of She even in Paris streets at about 3 am are almost completely empty so she could let herself for that without gaining suspicious looks from other drivers.

She pulled her totem out of the jeans pocket. It was a relatively long time since her last Dreaming, but carrying the totem with herself became her habit, even though she didn't really use it for destination purpose. She treated the bishop more as a lucky charm, than an anchor to reality.

When Arthur finally appeared Ariadne paused for a moment before heading to him. For a complete stranger he'd probably look impeccable, calm and relaxed. Ariadne's trained eyes without slightest problems caught all the symptoms of weariness: less than usual confidence in walk, almost invisible tension in his shoulders… And, most importantly, he didn't notice her, rushing to the exit.

"Arthur!", she called and run up to him. There was a smile on his face, when he pulled her into embrace.

"I told you not to come", he murmured into her hair, holding her tightly pressed to himself.

Ariadne chuckled. "Aren't you happy I came?", she teased, but Arthur's reaction startled her a little. He gently pushed her away and tilted her chin with hand, so he could look into her eyes.

"I love you, Ariadne.", he said fiercely. "You are the person that makes me happy."

It caught Ariadne's breath in throat; Arthur had confessed his love a couple of times before, sometimes more seriously, in other occasion with a playful note in his voice.

But it had never sounded like that, like a promise of love until death.

The way home Ariadne was silent, not wanting to tear Arthur from the state of half-sleep he was in. The exhaustion made him curled in the bed as soon as they'd reached the flat and fell asleep within second. Ariadne was laying beside him awake for a little longer, listening to his steady and soft breaths and simply enjoying that sound.

She woke up with a slight sense of panic, afraid that she'd be once again late for her classes, but a short glance at watch reassured her that there was still plenty of time.

She stand up as quiet, as she could; Arthur shifted position but stayed asleep, which brought a smile on her face.

She heard many stories from Eames saying how annoying Arthur is, how he's always the last one to fall asleep and the first one to wake up. Eames claimed than even if you woke up in the middle of the night, Arthur wouldn't be sleeping. Ariadne wasn't sure if that just Eames's imagination, but she liked to think that she's the person Arthur can relaxed with completely, that he's trusting her to the extension no one else has ever gotten.

Way back from the bathroom she picked Arthur's suit from the floor, another things she was sure not many people could know about.

It definitely needs washing, Ariadne decided, spotting small stains of blood and dirt covering the jacket. She pushed away the thought about whose blood can it be; it could wait after her classes.

She absently checked pockets, as she wanted to carry it to washing laundry, while going to the university. There was something in the trousers' pocket, she took it out and frozen.

On the palm of her hand laid a red die with white dots.

"Oh my god.", Ariadne couldn't help but whisper.

What she was supposed to do? Put it back and pretend nothing had happened? Tell Arthur?

Her dilemma did solve itself, though, as she heard footsteps behind her and then got a tender kiss on the nape of her neck.

"Oh.", Arthur finally noticed his totem laying on her hand.

"I didn't mean to!", she turned rapidly to face him. "Arthur, I really…"

"Shh", he silenced her, took the die from her grasp and let it land on the floor. "It's nothing, it doesn't matter."

"You didn't let me touch it back during the first training.", she clearly remembered his calm tone when he said "I can't let you touch it."

Much to her surprise Arthur chuckled. "Everything has changed.", he answered simply.

* * *

ARTHUR'S DREAM

_Ariadne ducks instinctively when she heard a gunfire and with a corner of her eyes sees Arthur has already his Glock in the hand__. He pushes her behind an apple tree, when another bullet pierces the air._

_Ariadne is bewildered; it's clearly a trap, but how is that possible? Why Arthur would fight against himself?_

_There's no time for wondering, though; a window on the first floor explodes to thousands of glass pieces and a human body falls from it, hitting hard the ground below._

_It's Mal._

_Arthur hisses and for a moment everything goes still and frozen, but soon the chaos comes back. There's a strange, terrifying expression on Arthur's face when he grabs her hand and shoves her toward their car. Another bullet cuts the air and Ariadne catches the picture of Arthur curling into himself, just a moment before they reach the car._

_It seems nobody is after them, so Ariadne lets herself take a deep, slightly shuddered breath and look at Arthur. He's crumpled on the seat, his eyes wide, breathing rapidly._

"_She's dead.", he announces suddenly, the tone of his voice empty._

"_Arthur…", Ariadne starts, but a wave of his hand silences her. _

"_She's dead for a couple of years. Oh, god..", Arthur leans to the glove compartment and Ariadne realizes two things._

_He knows he's dreaming._

_He's wounded, the stain of blood becomes bigger with every second._

_Without hesitation she pulls off on the roadside and turns off the engine._

"_Arthur, I'm real.", she speaks in the sudden silence; he looks at her in disbelief and then, much to Ariadne's fear, he breaks into the broad smile._

_The touch of his fingers on her cheek is cold and makes Ariadne shiver, but she doesn't flinch at it._

"_I know.", he says suddenly and coughs, blood colors his lips to bright red, but he doesn't pay attention to that. "I would never… I couldn't imagine you… You're too complete, too…". Another cough interrupts him and Ariadne reaches to him, embracing him tight._

"_Go to sleep.", she whispers softly. "You'll wake up in the real world."_

_And she's certain that is what will happen._

* * *

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Ariadne tilts her head, catching sun reflections with the surface of her wedding ring.

It's been a month now since Arthur put it on her finger, but it's cold and simple band still amazes Ariadne; when professor Miles called her and introduce "Mr. Cobb" to her she'd never thought she'll be married to a dream theft and one sunny winter day she'll be standing in her own garden, with the knowledge that the man she loves most in the world it's somewhere in the house.

She takes a deep breath, enjoying the sharp coldness of air, its taste of snow.

She is standing like that for about ten minutes now; her thoughts whirling and flying from one topic to another.

Today exactly eight months pass from the very day Arthur wakes up from coma and sometimes Ariadne still can't believe their luck.

She remembers more than clearly days after awakening; the struggle with physical weakness of body, aftereffects of coma and shot.

Even now, after such long time, not everything is perfect; Arthur's left hand isn't one hundred percent efficient. It's the result of shattered shoulder-blade, most probably it won't be entirely fine ever.

Ariadne grimaces at this thought, but the bad moon doesn't last long.

After all it's a also an anniversary of the first month of her and Arthur marriage.

Ariadne recalls that very day with a broad smile, even though it wasn't perfect at all. Phillipa and James managed somehow to destroy the wedding cake, Eames got Cobb and Yusuf drunk and she herself almost broke a leg.

But it still one of the brightest day in her life, followed with next wonderful ones spent on decorating their new home; in fact they still have much to do in that matter.

She hears a quiet croak of the door and then soft footsteps in the fresh snow. Arthur approaches her and places a "good morning" kiss on the top of her head.

She leans to him, never tired of the sensation that gives her touching him, even through a layers of winter coats.

"Good or bad thoughts?", Arthur asks quietly.

"Both.", Ariadne admits and raises her hand so that sun once again reflexes on the wedding ring's surface.

"Look.", Ariadne says. "How beautifully looks gold in the sunlight."

And so it does.

THE END

* * *

**A/N: Thanks a lot for reading/reviewing/allerting/adding to favorites. It all makes my days:)**


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